Aug 4, 2026

Cardinal Onaiyekan Tells Tinubu: Catholic Bishops Are Done Talking, Govern Better

By Afolabi Olaiya Idowu in politics

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Abuja / Ilese-Ijebu, Nigeria – August 4, 2026 — Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, has bluntly told President Bola Tinubu that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has said all it needs to say and that the administration should focus on governing better.

Speaking on Monday in an interview on Eagle 102.5 FM in Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State, Onaiyekan declined to engage further with criticisms from the Presidency following last week’s closed-door meeting between the bishops and the President at the State House in Abuja.

“We are done talking. You can govern better,” the Cardinal said. “We didn’t go there just as Catholic bishops pushing the Catholic agenda. No. We went there as people who are with the spiritual mandate to speak to anybody in the name of God.”

He added that any reactions from government supporters or spokespersons were “their business, not mine,” and that the volume of responses already circulating on social media from ordinary Nigerians was “more than enough.”

The bishops had met Tinubu to present their assessment of the nation’s economic and security challenges.

According to accounts of the encounter, they told the President that the economy was failing the poor and raised concerns about the independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the 2027 general elections.

President Tinubu is reported to have disagreed firmly, insisting that conditions were improving and outlining steps his administration was taking on security and the economy.

Presidency’s Pushback

The Presidency later criticized Onaiyekan for publicly disclosing details of the private meeting, describing the Cardinal’s earlier media comments as an abuse of clerical privilege.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, said there was something “fundamentally inappropriate” about offering a personal interpretation of a closed-door discussion.

A Moral Voice, Not a Sectarian One

Onaiyekan rejected any suggestion that the bishops had spoken only for Catholics. He framed their intervention as a moral duty rooted in a broader spiritual mandate to speak on behalf of all Nigerians struggling with the cost of living and insecurity.

The exchange has reignited long-running debates in Nigeria about the proper role of religious leaders in national politics and the limits of confidential consultations between church and state.

As the public conversation continues, Cardinal Onaiyekan’s latest message is unambiguous: the bishops have spoken; the responsibility for better governance now rests with those in power.